User talk:Spaldy
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My chat-pal Sez had me browsing your wiki, and I kept saying stuff, and she kept saying, put it on Spaldy's talk page, so... One, it says your computers communicate faster-than-light. Does this mean that they already use that medium for their actual computations, the way we use sublight electrons today? Or... is that something one of your characters can invent at some point and change the galaxy? I imagine that by this point, they've at least figured out how to use photons for computing the way we use them (in fiberoptics) for computer-to-computer communications today... :Well, anything faster-than-light is typically already problematic in most science fiction, and it's usually only there to solve a story issue. The main reason I incorporated FTL-comms was that I wanted people to be able to communicate with one another reasonably easily, which in turn has flow-on effects to how the society is structured. That said, I did make a passing (very wobbly) nod to where I saw science at the moment. :The way I see it, the quantum communications of Eclipse use hardware that transmits information based on the actions at a distance of two entangled particles. Kind of like this. As for incorporating this into contemporary computing in eclipse, I can't see any reason why photons and other such particles wouldn't be used in the processors themselves, though advanced quantum computers (as opposed to the communications hardware) probably use the quantum nature of single particles in a manner similar to a processor (kind of like this). :I wanted to have both types of computers in the setting (quantum processors and "standard" processors) to emphasise the capitalistic nature of the Republic. Quantum technology is largely owned in Eclipse by two metacorporations (Particle Properties and Cynautics), and this has flow-on effects for how deep the technology can penetrate into society. ::Spaldy 20:54, September 11, 2010 (UTC) Two... Don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure joules are really all that useful as a measurement of laser output? It'd be good for the measurement of a projectile; one megajoule is the equivalent of one ton of mass at 160 km/h... But, a mega''watt'' is the same energy, per second, which is more useful to measure lasers. Any beam laser, at any rate. Pulse lasers could use joules to measure the energy of a single pulse, but at a slow rate of fire, it'd be impossible to hit anything with them. (Play Frontier: First Encounters if you don't know what I'm talking about, or teach me how to play it if you already have, and can beat anything that's actually armed when you've got a 1 or 5 mw pulse laser.) At a faster rate of fire, it might be prudent to at least add a stat for pulses per second, and of course, I'd use watts for a continuous beam... For references, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megajoule#Megajoule , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt :Completely agree, but it's just a case of putting a unit on a rules-statistic for GURPS. They've gone with joules, so it's easier to just stick with joules. :That said...as far as I can see, Megawatts would be useful to measure the output of the technology itself, though there could be a case made for joules (though, in a roundabout way). Megawatts are probably the best unit for measuring the output of a laser emitter at the source, and are likely a key measure of the weapons in the game. What many will be looking for, however, is the amount of energy transmitted to the target per second (i.e., how much damage the weapon can do in specific circumstances). :Take, for example, the difference (according to GURPS) between a visible or near-UV laser and a UV-laser. Both weapons with the same rated output (for the sake of the example, in watts) would transmit a different amount of energy to a target at the extremes of their ranges. So the output remains the same, but there's a point at which energy-to-target is different. My thought is that this could explain why the writer of GURPS Spaceships chose to go for joules, rather than watts. Though, it's not exactly my area of expertise :P ::Spaldy 20:54, September 11, 2010 (UTC) Hope you find this interesting and useful. And kudos on making a universe that seems so intriguing, I wish you'd make a video game out of it! Heck, if I had the million$, I'd fund it myself. :P :^_^ 01:50, August 29, 2010 (UTC)Dave PS, Sez can tell you how to reach me, I don't want to post it out here where just anyone can see it. :P ------- Spaldy, Have been chatting about this & have pointed out the limitations/rules of GURPS in a very general fashion so don't worry about the Joules/Watts question. (Unless you want to). But totally tackle the first paragraph! Luv ~Sez You already know too much. 04:28, August 29, 2010 (UTC)